A 'Pattharkar', I do not like to write – I like to have written…!!

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This is a true story that begins in the late 80’s. “Canelo” was the dog of a man who lived in Cadiz, southwest Spain. A pet that followed his owner to all places and at all times. This anonymous man lived alone, so the good dog was his most loyal friend and only companion.

Every morning you could see them walking together through the quiet streets of the city when the old man took his friend for a walk. Once a week one of these walks would take them to Puerta del Mar Hospital, where the man was undergoing dialysis treatments due to kidney complications.

Due to the hospital‘s rules of not allowing animals inside, he always left Canelo waiting at the door. The man would undergo his treatment, meet Canelo at the door on his way out, and together they would head home. This was a routine that had bee going on for a long time.

One day the man suffered complications in the midst of his treatment, doctors were unable to help him and he died in hospital. Meanwhile, Canelo as always, was waiting outside on his own lying by the door of the health center. But this time, his owner never came.

The dog sat there, waiting. Neither hunger nor thirst would persuade him to walk away from the door. Day after day, cold, rain, wind or heat, he continued lying at the hospital’s door waiting for his friend to come out so they could go home.

This video was made in tribute to Canelo, 12 years waiting for his friend !!!

The locals realized the situation and felt the need to care for the animal. They took turns to carry water and food, even managed to get a pardon for Canelo when the pound took him to be sacrificed.

Twelve years was the time that the noble animal waited outside the hospital for his friend to come back. He never sought a new family. He knew his only friend had gone through that door, and that he should wait for him so they could return home together.

The wait lasted until December 9, 2002, when Canelo was run-over and killed by a car outside the hospital. A tragic end to a wonderful example of loyalty and unconditional love.

Canelo’s story was well known throughout the city of Cadiz, which in recognition of the love, dedication and loyalty of Canelo, named an alley after him and put up a plaque in his honor.

“Agaden (Association for the defense and study of nature) adopted him, vaccinated him and arranged the papers to stop him being an undocumented stray dog. And although various foster families were offered to him, Canelo always managed to escape, and time and time again he returned to the hospital to wait.

People fed him and cared for him like a family member. Canelo wasn’t a stray dog, he was everyone’s dog, the dog of Cadiz

Parimala Bhat reads Sparshdnyan, one of the world’s few newspapers to cater to the visually impaired.

From delicious billion-dollar scandals to uplifting tales of the human condition and narratives about the country’s economic progress, India boasts a bountiful supply of compelling stories.

Parimala Bhat wants to know about all of them. But the 52-year-old Mumbai resident is blind and for years she had to rely on TV news channels to satisfy her craving for news.

No more.

For the past several years, Bhat has subscribed to Sparshdnyan, a local newspaper that has carved itself an unusual niche in India’s surging media industry: the paper, whose name translates to “knowledge by touch” is written in Braille, making it one of the world’s few newspapers to cater to the visually impaired.

“You know how satisfying it is to sit and just read,” says Bhat, a healthcare worker with Air India. “It’s the same for the blind. The TV and radio are fine, but I love being able to save my paper for the night-time when I’m by myself and get involved in a story. It’s a different sense reading the paper instead of listening to news. It’s just incredibly satisfying.”

Published twice a month, Sparshdnyan is sent to about 400 subscribers in Maharashtra. While its circulation may be modest, readership is growing fast. Most issues are sent to institutes for the blind, where each copy is read by an estimated 60 people. The paper’s readership is estimated at about 24,000, says editor Swagat Thorat.

Four-year-old Sparshdnyan would seem to be a notable success story in India’s vibrant media sector. A team of local journalists volunteer their time to write for the paper, which averages about 48 pages per issue, and readers and government officials alike praise its coverage of local politics and social issues, Thorat says.

“We get about 600 to 700 letters to the editor every month,” says the 50-year-old. “We have readers from ten-years-old to 80 but I think more than half, probably 60%, are between 18 and 35.”

Thorat isn’t the first news editor who has recognised there’s a market for the visually impaired.

For Thorat, it all started in 1997 when he directed a play “Swatantryachi Yashogatha” (Glorious story of independence) which created a world record, with 88 blind artists from two blind schools in Pune, on the background of golden anniversary of Independence Day. This play was entered in ‘Guinness Book of World Records’ and ‘Limca Book of Records’.

Thorat reminisces, “While doing the show, I travelled with these kids and observed that their discussions revolved around things that they had read. Back in 1998, there were very few Braille books available. Now, the number has gone up. But I realized that these kids wanted to read more. There was a need…”

Sparshdnyan’s news slant is eclectic. A recent issue featured the review of an autobiography by a local college professor who is blind, an editorial on corruption, an issue that has dominated headlines across newspapers this summer, and a feature story about doctors who overmedicate.

There was also a section giving advice about public speaking, a travel story on the Maharashtra district of Raigad, where tourists flock to hiking trails 1,000 metres above sea level, a recipe for keema pulao, and a general knowledge quiz. Sparshdnyan chooses to give a miss to a few key news areas that are an integral part of mainstream newspapers.

Why a unique newspaper ‘sparshdnyan’ isn’t covering the IPL !!!

Crime and cricket are left out!

Thorats says:

“The paper we use is so expensive that I want to be judicious of what gets printed on it and quality has been our prime concern. Cricket is all over the broadcast media. As for crime stories, they affect even the sighted. So imagine the impact it will have on the blind, many of whom do battle depression,” .

“Sparshdnyan leaves no stone unturned in inspiring our readers to scale new heights. Most of the content in the paper revolves around social issues, international affairs, inspiring biographies and education and career options” . Our ideology is clear. We want to acquaint our readers to current issues around them. We don’t want to discuss or debate only issues that affect the visually handicapped. Sparshdnyan carries content that you and I like to read in our morning paper. We cover subjects such as health, politics, music, films, theatre, literature and food, including recipes, the 40-46 odd pages.”

For three years, the advertising company that has worked with Thorat has failed to sell a single ad in his paper. It begs the question, why hasn’t he sacked his partner and found someone else to broker deals with local advertisers.

“I still want a future with them and hope they can turn it around but I am starting to think about getting someone new,” says Thorat, who refuses to identify the company that’s said to be searching for ads for Sparshdnyan.

Sparshdnyan is distributed among 400 subscribers in India’s western Maharashtra state. Most of these issues are sent to institutes for the blind, where each copy is read by an estimated 60 people, putting the unofficial readership at around 24.000.

The project is costly and Thorat has little money to fund the endeavour. To raise support from his seeing peers, he develops documentary films about India’s wildlife.

“Our subscribers re-circulate the issues to others” mentions Swagat. “When people know you’re doing something good, they help, hence I approached all my acquaintances and well-wishers with a special scheme. He further adds “If they paid an annual fee of Rs 1200 (revised from Rs 960 due to increase in paper cost), a copy of the fortnightly magazine would be presented to a blind person.”

Thorat, who also produces documentary films about India’s wildlife, says he covers his Rs 30,000 administrative costs by selling wildlife photos and films. A group of supporters pay the monthly bill of Rs 30,000 for paper. Since the paper is written in Braille, postage is free.

“It’s important that this newspaper be published,” says Suchita Shaha, a Mumbai psychologist who has raised Rs 50,000 from friends and neighbours to help cover Thorat’s expenses. “It’s not like it is in the West. There are no facilities here in India for the blind, no seeing-eye dogs. We need to do more to help.”

Despite his difficulties attracting advertisers, Thorat says he believes that there’s a demand for more Braille newspaper coverage. An estimated 10 million Indians are visually impaired and within a year, Thorat plans to launch a daily title.

“It will require about Rs 400,000 and this time I’ll be running it as a proper business investment only,” he says.

One reason he’s optimistic about a daily is that government policy in Maharashtra prevents public-sector advertising in publications that don’t publish at least weekly. A daily Braille newspaper, Thorat says, would draw ads for various employment schemes and other government programs.

“I still think private companies will come around,” Thorat says. “Right now, the blind in India just aren’t being looked at as consumers. Companies don’t realise that they still buy hair oil and toothpaste and cellphones.”

Sitting next to a roadside tea stall where local men sipped on steaming masala tea, despite the oppressive Mumbai summer heat and humidity, Bhat, the Air India official, says she’s come to love her bi-weekly newspaper fix.

“It seems like I start saying ‘is it here yet’ on the first day of every month until it finally comes,” Bhat says with a gleeful laugh.

Thorat who is striving to make a difference feels that Government is not doing enough to cater to the needs of blind! “Social organizations are doing much more for the physically challenged than the government” says Thorat.

Sparshdnyan has come all this way without any grants from the government or donations. Swagat confides “I dream of a day when blind individuals will get their own daily. I hope some media house starts it, but if they don’t I will start the daily on my own in a few years”. He further adds “I am trying to get public libraries at the district level to start Braille sections”

“What typically happens is that due to lack of access to Braille books beyond their textbooks, blind students lose touch with reading once they graduate,” says Thorat. “True, they can have a few books read to them, but that’s not reading, it’s listening! Reading and listening are two different functions. When you read, it has a deeper impact on your personality. It enhances your language which listening can’t” specifies Thorat!

This is why till date there has been no alternative to Braille the world over!

WALNUT BRAIN THE gnarled folds of a walnut mimic the appearance of a human brain – and provide a clue to the benefits. Walnuts are the only nuts which contain significant amounts of omega-3 fatty acids. They may also help head off dementia. An American study found that walnut extract broke down the protein-based plaques associated with Alzheimers disease. Researchers at Tufts University in Boston found walnuts reversed some signs of brain ageing in rats. Dr James Joseph, who headed the study, said walnuts also appear to enhance signalling within the brain and encourage new messaging links between brain cells.

TOMATO HEARTA TOMATO is red and usually has four chambers, just like our heart. Tomatoes are also a great source of lycopene, a plant chemical that reduces the risk of heart disease and several cancers. The Womens Health Study � an American research programme which tracks the health of 40,000 women � found women with the highest blood levels of lycopene had 30 per cent less heart disease than women who had very little lycopene. Lab experiments have also shown that lycopene helps counter the effect of unhealthy LDL cholesterol. One Canadian study, published in the journal Experimental Biology and Medicine, said there was œconvincing vidence that lycopene prevented coronary heart disease.

GRAPES LUNGS

OUR lungs are made up of branches of ever-smaller airways that finish up with tiny bunches of tissue called alveoli. These structures, which resemble bunches of grapes, allow oxygen to pass from the lungs to the blood stream. One reason that very premature babies struggle to survive is that these alveoli do not begin to form until week 23 or 24 of pregnancy. A diet high in fresh fruit, such as grapes, has been shown to reduce the risk of lung cancer and emphysema. Grape seeds also contain a chemical called proanthocyanidin, which appears to reduce the severity of asthma triggered by allergy.

CHEESE BONES A nice ˜holey cheese, like Emmenthal, is not just good for your bones, it even resembles their internal structure. And like most cheeses, it is a rich source of calcium, a vital ingredient for strong bones and reducing the risk of osteoporosis later in life. Together with another mineral called phosphate, it provides the main strength in bones but also helps to ˜power muscles. Getting enough calcium in the diet during childhood is crucial for strong bones. A study at Columbia University in New York showed teens who increased calcium intake from 800mg a day to 1200mg equal to an extra two slices of cheddar – boosted their bone density by six per cent.

GINGER STOMACH Root ginger, commonly sold in supermarkets, often looks just like the stomach. So its interesting that one of its biggest benefits is aiding digestion. The Chinese have been using it for over 2,000 years to calm the stomach and cure nausea, while it is also a popular remedy for motion sickness. But the benefits could go much further.
Tests on mice at the University of Minnesota found injecting the chemical that gives ginger its flavour slowed down the growth rate of bowel tumours

BANANA (SMILE) DEPRESSION Cheer yourself up and put a smile on your face by eating a banana. The popular fruit contains a protein called tryptophan. Once it has been digested, tryptophan then gets converted in a chemical neurotransmitter called serotonin. This is one of the most important mood-regulating chemicals in the brain and most anti-depressant drugs work by adjusting levels of serotonin production. Higher levels are associated with better moods.

MUSHROOM EARSlice a mushroom in half and it resembles the shape of the human ear. And guess what? Adding it to your cooking could actually improve your hearing. Thats because mushrooms are one of the few foods in our diet that contain vitamin D. This particular vitamin is important for healthy bones, even the tiny ones in the ear that transmit sound to the brain.

BROCCOLI CANCER Close-up, the tiny green tips on a broccoli head look like hundreds of cancer cells. Now scientists know this disease-busting veg can play a crucial role in preventing the disease. Last year, a team of researchers at the US National Cancer Institute found just a weekly serving of broccoli was enough to reduce the risk of prostate cancer by 45 per cent. In Britain, prostate cancer kills one man every hour.